Contempt of court: Punjab & Haryana High Court sentences dismissed cop Balwinder Sekhon to six months in jail

The Punjab & Haryana High Court on Friday observed that circulation of malicious material against the judiciary globally amounts to inciting people against the rule of law [Court on its Own Motion vs. Union of India and Ors.]. .A division bench of Justices GS Sandhawalia and Harpreet Kaur Jeewan made the observation while sentencing dismissed Punjab Police DSP Balwinder Singh Sekhon and his aide Pardeep Sharma to six months in prison in a contempt of court case.Notably, at the time when the sentence was announced, Sekhon raised the slogan “Judicial Gundagardi Murdabad” in open court.According to the Court, this act compounded the contempt due to which it could not award a lesser sentence.The Court noted that Sekhon and his aides had nearly 37,000 subscribers on social media platforms, where they were posting derogatory, malicious and libellous media against constitutional authorities and the judiciary. In that backdrop, the Court observed,"Mud-slinging by way of open publication and representation of such malicious material being circulated not only at the national but international level, amounts to inciting people at large against the Rule of Law and against one of the basic wing of the democratic set up under the Constitution of India consisting of the legislature, executive and the judiciary.".Thus, the Court saw no reason to delay the proceedings, and convicted and sentenced Sekhon and Sharma to six months in prison under Section 2(c)(i) to (iii) of the Contempt of Courts Act, along with a fine of ₹2,000 each. .The Court also directed Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to file affidavits stating whether or not financial benefits accrue to individuals who create channels on their platform and upload videos, and whether Sekhon had earned any revenue through monetization of his channels.Additionally, the Court also asked the platforms to provide details on whether any complaints were received regarding the offensive material posted by Sekhon, and whether any action was taken in response to such complaints. Further, it sought information on the redressal mechanism put in place by these respondents and how actively it has been responded to by citizens who filed complaints..The Court was hearing a suo motu contempt case it registered against Sekhon and Sharma for allegedly circulating malicious, libellous, and derogatory videos pertaining to judicial proceedings on social media. .Notably, at the time when the sentence was announced, Sekhon raised the slogan “Judicial Gundagardi Murdabad” in open court. According to the Court, this act compounded the contempt due to which it could not award a lesser sentence..A criminal contempt notice was issued to Sekhon on February 15 for willingly taking on the High Court to achieve personal ends..The Court had found that Sekhon, who had filed a writ petition challenging his dismissal from service, had been circulating videos related to judicial proceedings. The Court had also noted that in one of the videos, scandalous allegations were made against ten judges of the High Court and one judge of the Supreme Court. Sekhon was called upon to answer the charge.When the proceedings concluded on February 15, at the entrance of the Court, Sekhon and Sharma launched into a vicious tirade on the manner in which proceedings which had been conducted. As a result, the suo motu case was registered..The matter will be taken up next on May 4, 2023. .Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain and advocate Dheeraj Jain represented the Union of India.Senior Standing Counsel Anil Mehta and Junior Panel Counsel Mayank Sharma appeared for the Union Territory of Chandigarh.Advocate General Vinod Ghai, and Additional Advocates General Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala and Aman Pal appeared for the State of Punjab.Senior Advocate Puneet Bali and advocates Vaihav Jain, Gauhar Mirza, Sachin Jain and Yash Karunkaran appeared for Facebook.Senior Advocate Anand Chhibbar, and advocates Shikhar Sarin and Rohan Ahuja appeared for YouTube.Advocates Rohit Khanna, Saurabh Gautam, Saransh Jain and Simran Sharma appeared for Twitter..[Read Order]